Oberlin Window (Finney Chapel), Final Project Study

Since the mid-1960s, Robert Mangold has created works that display a rigorous use of geometric forms and broad swaths of colored, abstract shapes. In 1990, at the suggestion of Oberlin College professor of art John Pearson, Mangold began to create designs for a stained glass window for the College's Finney Chapel, completing the vision of architect Cass Gilbert-who also designed the AMAM-for one of the most prominent buildings on Oberlin's campus. Finney Chapel was finished in 1908, but the large round window facing Tappan Square had been left empty of decoration. Gilbert's intent was that its colors be "rich and impressive .!.!. deep blues and full reds and yellows," but a disagreement between the architect and the donor led to the project's postponement.

In the 1980s, interest in completing the window was renewed, with Professor Pearson proposing Robert Mangold as designer. Finding it difficult to get the depth of color he wanted in yellow, part of his Originally Submitted Sketch, this color was omitted from the final version in favor of deep blue. The original sketch's deep violet parallelogram was later changed to silvery-gray and its direction shifted, with the oval form placed in diagonal opposition to it. Imbued with both lightness and heft, the window's luminosity naturally changes based on the weather, but it always maintains a spiritual force.